Article
UNESCO Partners with the Signify Foundation to light up the future of ethnic minority communities in Viet Nam
The right to education is a fundamental human right everyone is entitled to have access to education However we know that there can exist numerous obstacles for the full realization of this right especially for those who are in a disadvantaged and vulnerable situation This is the case for ethnic minority children in Viet Nam for while significant progress has been made in providing access to education among ethnic minority children over the last decade more than 13 of the lower secondary schoolaged ethnic minority children 143 for male and 123 for female and almost 46 of the upper secondary schoolaged ethnic minority children 484 for male and 431 for female remained out of school in 2019 according to a survey report on the socioeconomic status of 53 ethnic minority groups published by the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs and General Statistics Office in 2020 ? It is within this population that poverty is concentrated in the country a combination of a number of socioeconomic factors compounded by the challenging geography of the remote areas where the some of the poorest communities are found In such place many children need to wake up very early in the morning and walk a long distance to reach school on time raising concerns about their safety of children on the way between home and school In?some cases they must cope with limited access to electricity and poor lighting at home and in boarding facilities that affects their learning performance??
